Ethically Speaking: Advertising

Ethical advertising. Oxymoron? Few professions inspire such an immediate association with trickery and flim flam as advertising, but this much scrutinised media realm has, perhaps, as well defined a set of ethical rules and guidelines as any sphere of public life.

Our panel of ethicists and ad-folk, including Jon Casimir, executive producer and author of The Gruen Transfer and chaired by Ben Birchall, unpick the principles that underpin the hard sell.

Ben Birchall is a writer, broadcaster and creative director who has worked in radio, advertising and digital publishing. He hosted 3RRR FM’s Breakfasters from 2009-2012 and is currently the host of Ingredipedia – a factual food fight podcast that consistently tops the iTunes Australia food charts. His writing has appeared in the Age, Smith Journal and Frankie and his advertising work for clients like NAB, Mars, CUB and the Wheeler Centre has won awards internationally.

What do we talk about when we talk about ethics? Questions of moral philosophy affect all facets of our everyday existence. There are fundamentals of decency, of responsibility, of community, that underpin and define our society, but what are they?

Every second month throughout 2010 Australia’s finest ethical thinkers and industry experts will come together to tease out those principles that run deeper than our Codes & Practices, our Rules & Regulations. How might we live an ethical life in the minefield of contemporary relations?